Welcome to UNSW Odour Laboratory

The UNSW Odour Laboratory is a research group within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New South Wales. The laboratory is a leading edge facility that specialises in interdisciplinary research and training for the assessment and management of odour and gaseous emissions. The odour research laboratory was established in 1991.

The Odour Laboratory provided specialist olfactory and chemical analysis for the characterisation of odorous and gaseous emissions from point and area sources. The laboratory attracts funding from a mixture of competitive CAT1 research grants (ARC,CRC) supported by applied research from government agencies, industry associations (WERF) and utilities.

News/Events

Dr Radosław Barczak

Warsaw University of Technology (Warsaw, Poland) in collaboration with University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia)

Dr Radosław Barczak is currently a visiting academic at the UNSW Odour Laboratory and will be in Sydney until October 2016. He is a fellow of the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship for Career Development.

His project “OdourCOB – Odour Characterization of Odorants from Biosolids” aims to identify the major contributing nuisance odorants produced from wastewater biosolids.

Workshops/Training

Odour and Odorant Workshop - Sydney, Australia, 14 - 15 August 2012

This two day intensive workshop provides participants with practical training on conducting odour and odorant sample collection and analysis, along with an understanding of key issues related to sample collection, storage, and analysis. Due to its hands-on focus, this workshop will be restricted to six participants only. Register now

PhD Scholarships/Study Opportunities

Looking towards or currently undertaking postgraduate study? View a list of PhD and practicum exchange study opportunities in the assessment and management of odours and gaseous emissions. Apply now

Research Projects

Olfactory characterisation of odours for optimising impact assessment

ARC Discovery project aims to apply a range of pattern recognition techniques, from simple statistical to chemometric analysis techniques in order to optimise the chemical characterisation of odorous emissions.

Optimal management of corrosion and odour problems in sewer systems

ARC Linkage project aims to develop a thorough understanding of all processes leading to odour and corrosion in sewers, along with efficient methods of control. There will be a large focus on the optimisation and characterisation of existing technologies, as well as development of effective novel solutions. The project is collaborative project between University of Queensland, University of New South Wales, University of Newcastle and University of Sydney.

This ARC Discovery project will apply a combination of field surveys, laboratory experiments, hydrodynamic modelling and life cycle assessment methods to address a key knowledge gaps in our current understanding of full life cycle N2O emissions from wastewater management practices. This research will facilitate more accurate assessments of the international water sector’s ‘carbon footprint’ and will ultimately enable sustainable management of the sector on a global scale.